Loose pit bull

[Ravenwolf]

I was out walking Scout last night, across the street from a schoolyard. The yard is fenced in, but has pedestrian gaps spaced throughout. Lots of people take their dogs in there to let them run off some energy - I've done it before with Scout. Anyway, this woman was in there with a gorgeous brindle pit bull. I looked up to see him running along the fence, his owner calling him futilely. Then she saw the gap in the fence and went "oh no, oh no, oh no!" The dog bolted across the street straight toward us, fortunately just after a car had already passed.

I specify that this dog was a pit because he was super friendly! I stood in front of Scout and said in a low voice "whoa," to the dog, and he slowed right down, then wagged his tail and came around in a friendly manner. He and Scout greeted each other, and I was about to grab the dog's collar when I remembered molly's_mum 's incident a few weeks ago, so instead I just blocked the dog from going around me and back onto the road, though he was still pretty interested in Scout so that made things a lot easier.

The owner came up, apologizing profusely and thanking me for catching (?) her dog. She was utterly terrified and kept saying "I never thought he'd do that!" and she was more relieved and happy at how tolerant Scout was than anything. She was so panicked and apologetic about it I kinda got the impression this was a lesson learned. Rather than reprimand her I just reiterated the danger and said "it was so lucky he ran out after that car had passed!"

Now by this point Scout was super-excited about his newfound friend and wanted to play, and he was coming on so strong that the pit wasn't so sure about him any more and hid behind mommy. So off we went and the woman thanked me again. LOL!

It was a refreshing turn of events to have someone behave more appropriately about their dogs actions and be suitably horrified at their own mistake, to the point where I didn't even have to say anything. That's one dog I don't think I'll be seeing run loose again any time soon!

[stormchaser09]

It's nice to read of a happy outcome and apologetic owners for a change

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

nice story - lucky the dog did ran out after the car - i know how horrible that feeling is

well done

[Ravenwolf]

Okay wow. No, today once again destroyed my faith in humanity.

We were crossing a bridge with our dogs and there was a woman with two loose border collies and a man with two schnauzers on leashes visiting on the bridge. The woman with the collies was no problem. They were fine. Dude with the schnauzers? Complete and utter MORON. His one dog is straining at the leash growling at Wyatt, and the guy says "it's okay, he's friendly, he just wants to say hello."

SERIOUSLY?!!

I was a ways back with Scout - he still gets excited to meet other dogs so I made him sit farther back. Once my husband and Wyatt made it through the gauntlet I went through - the guy was crouched down holding his two dogs. The "friendly" schnauzer lunged, literally snarling at Scout, who growled back and I had to body block him. Then Scout tried to visit with the collies, but I remembered the "leave it" command and much to my pleasure he obeyed right away.

I was just not in a mood to get into an argument with that guy for being a total idiot, but my husband and I did spend the next few minutes laughing about possible things we could have said in reply to the friendly comment while the dog is growling.

Why? Why are people so clueless?!

Also, I've very proud of myself for not dropping a single f-bomb while writing this. I try to keep my language clean on this forum, but putting pretend curses in the place of good ones just isn't the same!

[Mollys_mum]

Thanks for remembering me.

I think I should come 'clean' here:

I got bitten by a dachshund at the age of 7. (He belonged to my grandparents, and without warning he bit my face when I went to stroke him (bottom jaw inside my mouth and top jaw bit my nose.) I felt so humiliated that I crept into bed and didn't tell anyone. I was badly hurt btw.

When I was 12, I witnessed my baby sister being bitten in the face and thrown around like a rag doll by our cocker spaniel. Even though I was only 12, I couldn't understand why our family dog would do this. My mum wanted her put down but my dad wouldn't allow it.

It happened again and my mum threatened to call the police, so my dad gave the dog to my sister to avoid procecution.

When I was 18, I then got bitten on the arse by the dog belonging to my boss and had to go to hospital.

All of my adult life I have resisted having a dog because of what happened in the past.

I now have a Husky in the hope that she'll be a good dog.

[Ravenwolf]

Thanks for remembering me.

I think I should come 'clean' here:

I got bitten by a dachshund at the age of 7. (He belonged to my grandparents, and without warning he bit my face when I went to stroke him (bottom jaw inside my mouth and top jaw bit my nose.) I felt so humiliated that I crept into bed and didn't tell anyone. I was badly hurt btw.

When I was 12, I witnessed my baby sister being bitten in the face and thrown around like a rag doll by our cocker spaniel. Even though I was only 12, I couldn't understand why our family dog would do this. My mum wanted her put down but my dad wouldn't allow it.

It happened again and my mum threatened to call the police, so my dad gave the dog to my sister to avoid procecution.

When I was 18, I then got bitten on the arse by the dog belonging to my boss and had to go to hospital.

All of my adult life I have resisted having a dog because of what happened in the past.

I now have a Husky in the hope that she'll be a good dog.

Wow, you really are a brave soul to even consider getting a dog after all that! That's a lot of bad bites in one person's lifetime... I hope your husky is able to teach you the gentler side of dog ownership!